Florida authorities accuse rapper, 2 others, home invasion,
Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years AGO
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Two Florida men, including an underground rap artist known as Splash Zanotti, appeared in federal court Christmas day in connection with a home invasion two months ago, in which authorities said the men terrorized a couple, demanded $20,000 and sexually assaulted a woman.
A third man is set to appear before a judge on Monday.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that a federal affidavit accuses the three men of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, crimes that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Federal authorities described Splash Zanotti, whose real name is Kejuan Brandon Campbell, as the ringleader of the group.
A federal criminal affidavit said Splash Zanotti and his two accomplices, Dionte Alexander-Wilcox and Antonio James, forced their way into the couple’s Miramar home at gunpoint while wearing masks on the afternoon of Oct. 11. They told the couple they came to collect a debt, although an official described the man and woman as innocent victims.
Citing court documents, the Sun Sentinel reported that the terror went on for hours after the three men broke into the couple's home. They forced the woman to drive from ATM to ATM to withdraw cash. At one point, one of the intruders raped her while her husband went to the garage for a cigarette, a criminal affidavit states.
The paper reported that no charges have been filed in the alleged rape.
Campbell and Alexander-Wilcox were taken into custody on Dec. 16.
A representative of the 26-year-old rapper posted a video on social media of the arrest, in which the representative asserted the rapper's innocence.
ARTICLES BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong police arrest 4 from university student union
HONG KONG (AP) — Four members of a Hong Kong university student union were arrested Wednesday for allegedly advocating terrorism by paying tribute to a person who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself, police said.
For South Sudan mothers, COVID-19 shook a fragile foundation
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Paska Itwari Beda knows hunger all too well. The young mother of five children — all of them under age 10 — sometimes survives on one bowl of porridge a day, and her entire family is lucky to scrape together a single daily meal, even with much of the money Beda makes cleaning offices going toward food. She goes to bed hungry in hopes her children won’t have to work or beg like many others in South Sudan, a country only a decade old and already ripped apart by civil war.
For South Sudan mothers, COVID-19 shook a fragile foundation
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Paska Itwari Beda knows hunger all too well. The young mother of five children — all of them under age 10 — sometimes survives on one bowl of porridge a day, and her entire family is lucky to scrape together a single daily meal, even with much of the money Beda makes cleaning offices going toward food. She goes to bed hungry in hopes her children won’t have to work or beg like many others in South Sudan, a country only a decade old and already ripped apart by civil war.